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| Book/Report | FZJ-2017-03581 |
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1966
Kernforschungsanlage Jülich, Verlag
Jülich
Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/14459
Report No.: Juel-0388-LW
Abstract: Recent studies of processes leading to gaseous loss of nitrogen from soils have shown that volatile oss of nitrogen is frequently associated with acclmulation of nitrite, and indicate that gaseous uoss of nitrogen from aerobic soils through dlecomposition of nitrite formed during microbial oxidation of ammonium to nitrate may be much more extensive than loss due to denitrification of nitrate.$^{<7, 8, 12, 16, 11, 19>}$ lt is weil known that nitrite decomposes under acidic conditions with formation of NO (3HNO$_{2}$= =HNO$_{3}$+2NO+H$_{2}$O), but several workers have observed the formation of N$_{2}$ and N$_{2}$O through decomposition of nitrite in soils. $^{<15, 16, 19>}$ lt has been suggested tbat N$_{2}$ is formed by the Van Slyke reaction of nitrite with ammoniumor amino nitro gen (R · NH$_{2}$ + HNO$_{2}$ = R · OH++ H$_{2}$O + N$_{2}$), and this theory has received considerable attention. $^{1, 12, 13, 16>}$ However, recent work by CLARK and co-workers$^{<7, 16>}$ has confirmed previous indications that the reaction of nitrite with ammonium is of minor importance and suggests that organic soil constituents may be largely responsible for the conversion of nitrite to N$_{2}$ and N$_{2}$O. BREMNER$^{<3>}$ found that treatment of soil organic matter (humic acid) or lignin preparations with nitrite in acidic medium led to formation of N$_{2}$ and/or N$_{2}$O as well as NO, and to fixation of nitrite-N by these preparations. He also found that only about one-tbird of tbe nitrogen fixed by lignin in its reaction with nitrous acid was released by hydrolysis with 6 N HCl and that most of the nitrogen released by this treatment was in the form of ammonium. These findings support the suggestion that the formation of N$_{2}$ and N$_{2}$O by decomposition of nitrite in soils may be due to a reaction between nitrite and soil organic matter. They also indicate that soils may have the ability to fix nitrite-N by this reaction. FÜHR and BREMNER$^{(11)}$ recently investigated this possibility and found tbat addition of nitrite (as NaN$^{15}O_{2}$) to soils with pHvalues ranging from 3 to 7 led to fixation of 10-28 per cent of the added N and to conversion of 33-79 per cent of the nitrite-N to gaseous forms of nitrogen. They also found tbat only 50-60 per cent of the nitrite-N fixed by soils was released by boiling with 6 N HCl for 12 hr and that 75-80 per cent of the fixed N released by this treatment was in the form of ammonium. The latter observation and other findings led them to conclude that fixation of nitrite-N by soils is probably due to a non-biological reaction between nitrite and the lignin-derived material in soil organic matter. The objectives in the work reported here were to confirm that the fixation of nitrite-N by soils is due to chemical reaction of nitrite with soil organic matter and to obtain information concerning the mechanism of this reaction and the factors affecting nitrite-N fixation by soils.
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